Central Kalahari Game Reserve

The anthropological history of the area predates the establishment of the reserve in 1961 for thousands of years. It is hard to pinpoint when the area started being occupied by the San hunter-gatherers - more commonly known as Bushmen - but anthropologists estimate that they have been in the Kalahari for at least 40 000 - 70 000 years, maybe even longer. When the Central Kalahari Game Reserve was established in 1961, the original idea was that it would serve as a sanctuary for the Bushmen and that they could continue their age-old way of surviving in this harsh environment as nomadic hunters without any influence from the outside world.

The reserve was closed for 30 years until self-drives were allowed in the 1980s and 1990s in small and controlled numbers. The reserve contains several fossil rivers that were discovered to be rich in diamond deposits in the 1980s. The Botswana government then evicted the world's oldest inhabitants from the area. From 1997 to 2002, almost all the Bushmen were removed from the land to camps outside the reserve. After the Bushmen took the government to court, they won the human rights case to return home in 2006. The Botswana government still did not give the Bushman proper access to the reserve by banning them from the boreholes that they destroyed when the Bushmen were evicted, and following another appeal to the high court; the Bushmen only gained access five years later in 2011.

The Central Kalahari Game Reserve hosts immense wildlife for such a dry region. All the animals found here had to adapt to dry conditions and the ones that did so most effectively occur in the highest numbers. The most abundant antelope found here are the gemsbok, springbok, steenbok, red hartebeest, and eland, which are all excellently adapted to live with very little or no surface water, obtaining the water from the vegetation they eat. There will also be predators where there is prey, the most illustrious being the Kalahari lion, the only lion sub-specie still alive to bear a pitch-black mane.

Other predators include cheetahs, leopards, and caracals. Omnivores include the very cunning black-backed jackal and highly secretive Cape fox. Insectivores include aardvarks, honey badgers, meerkats, yellow mongooses, and bat-eared foxes. The ostrich, also known for surviving in these dry conditions, occurs across the reserve. However, wetter areas play host to herbivores like the African elephant, white rhino, giraffe, buffalo, blue wildebeest, sable antelope, impala, and predators like wild dogs, brown hyenas, and spotted hyenas. Also, keep an eye out for Chacma baboons, Cape ground squirrels, Cape hares, and porcupines.

The Kalahari is the largest sand basin in the world, covering over 900 000 square kilometers, including most of Botswana, the northern part of South Africa, and stretching across Namibia, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its name is derived from Tswana and translates to "the great thirst" or "a waterless place." The Central Kalahari Game Reserve is situated in the northeastern part of the world's largest sandy savanna. It is almost impossible to fathom that such a diverse ecology can be found - due to the region's harsh terrain and unyielding climate. Yet, various vegetation types, such as dunes, sandveld, bushveld, and acacia woodland, are evident in the area.

The area is also a world-renowned geologically significant area. It is a popular destination for archaeologists studying the geomorphological processes that have occurred over millennia. Fossil riverbeds, such as those found in Deception Valley and the various pans, illustrate the positions of primordial rivers that once flowed into the ancient Lake Makgadikgadi. The silhouettes of the sparsely scattered timeworn trees, like the camelthorn specie, against the backdrop of the flat plains and the open skies, are synonymous with the area. The area is also critical to social studies - an example of harmonized interactions between man and the environment.